Dragnet Photos

Movie Info

Based on the television series of the same name, this film follows the exploits of Sgt. Joe Friday (Dan Aykroyd), the nephew of the famous police officer, as he is teamed up with a new partner, Pep Streebek (Tom Hanks). While Friday is a stuffy, rule-obsessed, anal-retentive fellow, Streebek is his messy, irresponsible alter-ego. However, when a bizarre religious cult threatens Friday's new love interest, the two resolve their differences and work together to save her.

This is the only review of it you'll read that resists the temptation to open by quoting the naggingly insistent Dragnet motif of "Dum-de-dum-dum." There's just nothing dumb about this agreeably lightweight spoof.

At one time, maybe Dan Aykroyd's accelerated, authoritative jibber-jabber caroming off Tom Hanks' loud wailing was enough. But today, "Dragnet" feels pokey next to the peers of based-on-TV-series sorta-parodies it helped inspire.

Audience Reviews for Dragnet

½

Ackroyd does a pretty good impersonation of Jack Webb's Joe Friday, and that's the reason they're throwing this party. Unfortunately, that the character has a problem relating to the real world is not mined sufficiently, and certainly not comedically, which is after all the gist of this thing, or it should've been. Good chemistry with soon-to-be-a-big-star Hanks is not good enough to cover up a sad lack of material. What's left then is a poor memorial for what was once a well loved series. Only Harry Morgan seems aware of this, the look in his eyes the only clue to what pride the series name alone inspired.

Kevin M. Williams

Super Reviewer

½

THANK GOD ITS FRIDAY!
Classic 80's comedy with Hanks in his silly prime and Aykroyd when he was in everything haha.
There are some genius moments of comedy gold in this film that just elevate it, its much like the 'Starsky n Hutch' or 'The Dukes of Hazzard' remakes in which they sent up the original somewhat but keep it close to its original format in terms of concepts.
Its really underrated and overlooked frankly, the pairing of Hanks n Aykroyd is fantastic, Aykroyd being so so funny as a stuck up jobsworth and Hanks is perfect in a slick laidback role much like his other 80's characters. Its all very cheesy but there's some good action in here, nice soundtrack and excellent cast, wish they made em like this still hehe.

'Dragnet' is the movie Dan Aykroyd must have lived his whole life (up till then) to make. It is truly a moment of cosmic destiny that sees him donning the guise of Sgt. Joe Friday, nephew of the original, and it fits him like a glove, Aykroyd himself has never been better. The machine-gun verbal delivery he honed to perfection on 'Saturday Night Live' is given its best showcase here, and even though Tom Hanks is on board as well and is very likable and funny, make no mistake- this is Dan Aykroyd's show all the way. The best moments of 'Dragnet' come when he spews his rapid-fire dialogue at anyone and everyone; quoting regulations, lecturing bad guys and co-workers alike on everything from sex to zoo animals, declaring his love for Los Angeles and its police department, and generally being so straight a straight-arrow, you wonder if he's ever told a lie in his life. Conviction is one thing that Aykroyd's Joe Friday is definitely not lacking. And that is really the fun of 'Dragnet;' it takes you inside Friday's world, a place without too much in common with modern-day reality, but a place he believes so firmly in that you can't help but be sucked inside. Hanks' Pep Streebeck is there as a sort of reminder of real life, and under other circumstances, the combination wouldn't work, but here it does. The plot involves a porn magazine publisher (Dabney Coleman) who is secretly in cahoots with a right-wing preacher (Christopher Plummer, of all people, doing a letter-perfect take-off of Pat Robertson). Aykroyd's Friday even has a love interest, the Virgin Connie Swail (Alexandra Paul) who is as off-the-wall in her own way as Friday is his, so they make an ideal couple. The film was only a modest hit, and it certainly wasn't Dan Aykroyd's most successful movie in terms of box-office but its in my eyes a classic comedy and worth checking out